Russia attacks after reports of Bakhmut slowdown

Russian forces are attacking northern and southern stretches of the front in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, pressing on with their offensive despite assertions from Kyiv that Moscow’s assault was flagging near the city of Bakhmut.

Ukrainian military reports described heavy fighting in the northern sector along a stretch of front running from Lyman to Kupiansk on Friday, as well as in the south at Avdiivka on the outskirts of the Russian-held city of Donetsk.

Both are parts of the front that have been major Russian targets in a winter offensive campaign to fully capture Ukraine’s industrialised Donbas region. The Russian offensive has so far yielded scant gains despite thousands of troops killed on both sides in the bloodiest fighting of the war.

At a Ukrainian artillery position in lush pine forests behind the northern stretch of the front, troops fired 155 mm rounds from a French TRF-1 howitzer towards a highway used as a supply road for the Russian-held stronghold of Kreminna.

“Luckily we are holding the same position,” a soldier using the callsign “Greenwich” told Reuters. “Because we are facing a very strong enemy with very good arms. And it’s a professional army: airborne troops.”

As orders came in with coordinates, the crew rushed to their positions around the gun, removed camouflage, aimed, loaded and fired. After three rounds, they lowered the barrel, covered it back up and went back to bunkers in the forest to await further orders. Artillery and small arms fire could be heard in the distance.

Front lines in Ukraine have barely budged since November, despite the bloodiest fighting of the war. Ukraine recaptured swathes of territory in the second half of 2022, but has since mostly stuck to the defensive, while Russia has launched its big assault with hundreds of thousands of freshly called-up reservists and convicts recruited from prison as mercenaries.

As the winter turns to spring, the main question in Ukraine is how much longer Russia can sustain its major offensive, and when or if Ukraine can reverse the momentum with a counterassault now in the planning.

On Thursday, the commander of Ukrainian ground forces said Russia’s assault on Bakhmut, a small city that has been the focus of the biggest battle of the war, appeared to be losing steam and Kyiv could go on the offensive “very soon”.

For now, Ukrainian forces are still focused on preventing the Russians from advancing along more than 300 km of Donbas front, from Kupiansk in the north to Vuhledar in the south.

“All day yesterday the enemy tried to attack in the Avdiivka direction,” said Oleksiy Dmytrashkyvskyi, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Tavria military command responsible for southern areas. “Shelling of Avdiivka does not stop – artillery, rockets, mortars. It is sad to see how people survive there who do not want to leave, they are mostly elderly people.”

Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the East command responsible for the front line further north, said Russia’s main focus lately had been on the stretch from Kupiansk to Lyman, territory recaptured by Ukrainian forces last year.

Both said the Russians were reinforcing their units after heavy losses. There was no similar update on fighting in the area from the Russian side, which has long claimed to be inflicting heavy casualties on the Ukrainians.